The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.

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Another day, another ordeal by estimate and share price target cuts for Apple (AAPL), now dissed daily by some of the analysts who used to worship at its altar.

As of this morning, Citigroup is off the bandwagon with a downgrade to a Neutral from Buy. Citi cut its 12-month price target for Apple by $100 to $575. Why? Because sales have been good but not great, and because the leading designer of personal technology is no longer quite as leading as it seemed, back in the halcyon days of September.

Other analysts also waited out the uneventful weekend launch of the iPhone 5 in China to lower their sights. Pacific Crest bid $10 below Citi with its price target, newly reduced by $80. BMO Capital dropped its target for the second time in three months, this time by $60 to $670.

The defections follow the stock’s recent plunge and coincide with a test of its November lows. They are all the more notable because most analysts remain unabashed fans, with 49 of the 57 still calling Apple a Buy or Outperform. This reservoir of good will was already starting to shrink around the edges though, with UBS among the handful of brokerages cutting estimates last week.

On the heels of the lousy price action, the downshift in analyst sentiment hints at better days just ahead for Apple shares. This remains a fast-growing company with a powerful brand, excellent technology portfolio and modest valuation, while the damaged stock chart and souring mood have priced in quite a few of the near-term worries.

The long-term shift to mobile computing that still has Apple shares up 27% year-to-date is far from done, and some erosion in its dominant tablet market share is a small price to pay for continued leadership in a booming category.

This is an opportunity to own a fantastic company at an attractive price while Wall Street sweats the price action and the current quarter and wonders whether Apple has any tricks up its sleeve to drive the next product cycle.

The bet here is that it does, and it’s a bet on people with a hugely successful track record.

You can own fashionable stocks or cheap ones, and at 10 times the past year’s earnings after subtracting cash Apple is clearly not fashionable at the moment. But the long-term value proposition is more compelling than any number of the income plays purporting to offer much greater certainty.

Apple’s 2% dividend yield could rise to 10% without consuming all of the coming year’s likely profits. That’s a nice fat safety margin for the maker of the some of the world’s favorite and increasingly popular products.

(Disclosure: I hold Apple shares in retirement accounts I manage for relatives.)